The Best Powerline Networking Kit

Sometimes, we have Internet needs in places where Wi-Fi or Ethernet just can’t reach. If you have a power plug nearby, powerline networking may be the answer. After seven hours of research and about 25 hours of testing, we determined that the ZyXEL 600 Mbps Powerline AV2 Gigabit Adapter Kit is the best powerline networking kit for most people. Our pick was the fastest in most of our real-world tests, and they’re the only AV2 adapters with an AC outlet passthrough, so you’re not sacrificing an entire outlet for each adapter.

ZyXEL has come out with an AV2 1000 powerline networking kit too, but right now it’s $124 on Amazon. This review by CNET’s Dong Ngo indicates that it’s the fastest powerline networking kit to date, but SmallNetBuilder's tests put the new kit on par with our runner up, the TP-Link AV600 kit. We’d like to see the price on this and future AV2 1000 kits drop before we consider changing our recommendation, since right now they’re too expensive for most people.

ZyXEL also has a faster 1200Mbps kit up on its website, but it's not available from any retailers yet and it's not clear when it will be. We'll keep an eye out for reviews and availability and update this piece with more information when we have it.

September 26, 2014:
ZyXEL has come out with an AV2 1000 powerline networking kit, but right now it's $127 on Amazon. This review by CNET's Dong Ngo indicates that it's the fastest powerline networking kit to date. However, we'd like to see the price on this and future AV2 1000 kits drop before we change our recommendation, since right now they're too expensive for most people.

June 30, 2014: SmallNetBuilder tested the TP-Link AV600 Kit (our runner-up) and found that it had the fastest uplink, downlink, and simultaneous throughput of the kits they've tested, though they haven't tested the ZYXEL kit that earned our top pick. Their review concluded "if you want both a Gigabit port and enough throughput to make good use of it, TP-LINK's TL-PA6010KIT seems a clear choice to me."

June 19, 2014: We added more information about powerline performance on GFCI outlets and clarified that our recommendation's passthrough outlet has noise filtering to prevent interference with the powerline signal.

June 6, 2014:
TrendNet announced its next generation of 1200 AV2 powerline kits: The TPL-420E2K and TPL-421E2K with AC passthrough will be available in September for $99 and $109, respectively. We'll update this piece when we've tested the new generation of adapters ourselves.

The ZyXEL 600 Mbps Powerline AV2 Gigabit Adapter Kit was the fastest on most of our real-world tests and won’t hog an entire outlet due to its AC passthrough feature. Still not as good as Wi-Fi at close range, though.

The ZyXEL kit is our favorite, but as is often the case with gadgets, it isn’t perfect. The adapters are bulky and block the grounding prong of the outlet above, and the kit comes with short, 46-inch Ethernet cords.

The TP-Link AV600 Powerline Adapter Kit is our runner-up pick—it was a fierce competitor for the fastest in our tests (second only to our top pick). But it does have other benefits: it’s not as bulky as our pick and works well if your home only has two-prong outlets.

If our main pick becomes unavailable, or if your home only has two-prong outlets, we recommend the TP-Link AV600 Powerline Adapter Kit. The TP-Link kit was faster than the ZyXEL in some of our tests, is less bulky, and comes with longer Ethernet cables. However, the TP-Link was slower overall and doesn’t have AC passthrough. Worse, the kit we tested emitted a high-pitched coil noise that drove both of our testers a little nuts. Still, it’s a good option if you’re limited to two-prong outlets.

However, if you’re not in a big hurry to buy powerline networking adapters, it may be better to wait. New models are coming out this fall and they could be up to twice as fast.

What is powerline networking?

Even the fastest powerline kit we tested couldn’t compete with the signal from a good router in an average-sized house.

A powerline networking kit is a great way to extend your home network to the distant reaches of your house using your existing electrical wiring. It’s useful for places (like a garage, attic, or faraway bedroom) that don’t get a good Wi-Fi signal and where it would be impractical to run an Ethernet cord. However, it’s not a good replacement for Wi-Fi over short distances (read more about this in our “Flaws but not dealbreakers” section). Even the fastest powerline kit we tested couldn’t compete with the signal from a good router in an average-sized house.

A powerline kit contains two adapters, each with a single Ethernet port and an electrical plug. One adapter plugs into an outlet near your router and connects to that router with an included Ethernet cable. Plug in the other where you need an internet connection, and hook it up to your device with the other Ethernet cable. Voilà: internet!

Do not plug either end into a power strip or surge protector, which can filter out the signals your powerline kit uses.

Each two-adapter kit is enough to connect one device to the internet. You can extend your powerline network by buying more adapters, either in kits or individually. To add rooms to your powerline network, you just need adapters in those rooms—you can use the same router-side adapter for your entire network.

If you have more than one device to connect in a single room—for example, if your TV, game console, DVR, and Blu-ray player all need Ethernet connections—you should connect your powerline adapter to a network switch. It’s cheaper and better than using multiple powerline adapters in the same room.

Should I upgrade?

If you already have powerline network adapters in your home and you’re happy with the speeds they provide, there’s no need to upgrade. However, if you need more speed and have a kit that either uses an older Homeplug standard or doesn’t have a gigabit Ethernet port, this is a good time to upgrade.

You can buy individual powerline adapters and integrate them into older powerline setups in some cases, but they’re not always compatible and you won’t see much improvement because you’ll still be limited by the slowest adapter in the setup. It’s a better idea to start from scratch with a new kit.

Newer AV2 products with MIMO support will be coming out later this year and will have theoretical speeds twice as fast as the ones we tested, so it may be worth holding off until the technology matures if you can.

How we picked

There’s no sense shelling out for something that says 500 Mbps or 600 Mbps on the box if the Ethernet port can only handle 100 Mbps.

Powerline network extenders exist to bring internet where it’s impractical to use Wi-Fi or Ethernet, so speed is the most important feature. Look for the latest and fastest version of the Homeplug standard: AV2. A Gigabit Ethernet port is another must-have. There’s no sense shelling out for something that says 500 Mbps or 600 Mbps on the box if the Ethernet port can only handle 100 Mbps.

All of the powerline adapters we tested.

CNET’s Dong Ngo told us that the speed of AV2 adapters with gigabit Ethernet ports will be “significantly better than previous generations.” Comparing AV2 adapters to the previous standard, SmallNetBuilder found that widely-separated AV2 adapters provided nearly twice the speed of their last-generation counterparts.

If you’re not in a big hurry to buy powerline adapters, it may be better to wait. None of the adapters that are out right now support all of the features of the AV2 standard. The current batch of adapters sold under the AV2 moniker only support SISO (single input single output), putting their maximum theoretical speeds at 500-600 Mbps. Later this year, manufacturers will begin releasing AV2 adapters with MIMO (multiple input multiple output) support, which will double their theoretical speed to 1000 Mbps.

Gigabit Ethernet ports are a must-have for powerline network adapters.

Powerline adapters must be plugged directly into the wall, because power strips, AFCI breakers, and surge protectors greatly degrade or completely block the signal. Because of this, size is a consideration. You’re already using one of two outlets; you don’t want to block the other, too. Some powerline kits have AC passthrough—a power outlet on the adapter itself. However, they often cost more than those without.

Powerline adapters should have encryption to secure your powerline network from neighbors who share electrical wiring. LED status indicators are also important. Most powerline adapters have both.

We tested each powerline kit in several environments: a 2,400-square-foot, two-story house built in 1979, a 3,250-square-foot house with brand new wiring on the bottom floor thanks to Hurricane Sandy, and a small New York apartment with a lot of other people vying for electricity. We tested each of the powerline adapters a room or two away from the router and again as far away as possible to see how well the signal holds up as distance increases.

We used two benchmarking tools called JPerf and LANBench. We ran each test three times for 60 seconds each, and averaged the results to rule out irregularities. The default send-and-receive test in LANBench has highly variable results, so we broke the benchmark out into separate send and receive tests.

Many factors influence the speeds of powerline network adapters, and these test results should be used as a relative comparison between the kits rather than an indicator of the performance you’ll see in your own home. Your mileage will vary for a number of reasons, which we’ll address more in the “What factors slow down powerline signals?” section.

Our pick

The ZyXEL 600 Mbps Powerline AV2 Gigabit Adapter Kit was the fastest on most of our real-world tests and won’t hog an entire outlet due to its AC passthrough feature. Still not as good as Wi-Fi at close range, though.

The ZyXEL 600 Mbps Powerline AV2 Gigabit Adapter Kit is the best powerline networking kit for most people because it’s the fastest in most of our tests and has AC passthrough. It also has a power-saving mode and a two-year limited warranty. The adapters have sync buttons and LED indicators, which were standard across all the kits we tested.

Our recommendation, the ZyXEL 600 Mbps Powerline Kit.

The ZyXEL 600 Mbps Powerline Kit was the fastest in almost all of our tests, both near the router and far away, across three different homes. Our runner-up, the TP-Link, outstripped the ZyXEL a few times, but our pick never placed worse than second.

The ZyXEL 600 Mbps Powerline Kit was the fastest in almost all of our tests, both near the router and far away, across three different homes.

The first two locations on the graphs below are from the 2,400-square-foot house, points three and four are from the 3,250-square-foot house, and points five and six are from my small NYC apartment. Points one, three, and five are from a few rooms away from the router, while points two, four, and six are as far from the router as possible. The ZyXEL was consistently faster than the TP-Link, TrendNet, and D-Link in the first and third testing locations. The TP-Link was fastest in the the 3,250-square-foot house, which was partially destroyed by Hurricane Sandy and has brand-new wiring in its first floor. Even here, the ZyXEL was never worse than second.

In our JPerf benchmark at point two—about 60 feet from the router in a 35-year-old house—the ZyXEL kit never dropped below speeds of 18.1 Mbps while the TP-Link, TrendNet, and D-Link slowed to crawls of 8.8 Mbps, 8.9 Mbps, and 9.6 Mbps respectively.

Note: all the speeds listed here are in Megabits per second (Mbps), not Megabytes per second (MB/s). There are 8 bits in a byte; 10 Mbps equals 1.25 MB/s. According to Akamai, the average US household broadband speed is just 9.8 Mbps. Other metrics put the number higher, but nowhere near 100 Mbps, much less 600.

The ZyXEL 600 Mbps kit is the only one we tested with AC passthrough, so you don’t have to sacrifice an outlet per adapter. (The adapter’s bulk does partially block the outlet above, but we’ll discuss this more in a moment.) We ran a few tests with a computer and lamp plugged into the primary and secondary adapters’ passthrough outlets to see if it created enough signal noise to have a noticeable impact on internet speeds and found no indication that it does, thanks to the ZyXEL’s noise-filtering outlets.

The ZyXEL is also the only three-prong adapter we tested, which may contribute to its relatively speedy performance. As SmallNetBuilder points out, “The ground prong isn’t just there for safety—it’s actually used for signal transmission.” The 1000 Mbps AV2 adapters expected to come out later this year will make more use of the third prong, but it may have made the difference in signal throughput in our tests.

The ZyXEL adapters have AC passthrough so you’re not down a plug.

Our pick also has a power-saving mode, which reduces consumption to 0.5 watts—down from 4.5 watts during normal use—when there’s no Ethernet connection or active network usage for 60 seconds. This means you can leave the adapters plugged in when they’re not in use without having to worry about them draining needless electricity.

There are three LED indicators on the front of each adapter: power, HomePlug signal, and Ethernet.

The ZyXEL PLA5215 kit comes with a two-year limited warranty in case any parts fail during ordinary use. Each adapter has three LEDs which indicate whether the device has power, how healthy the HomePlug internet signal is, and if a device is connected to the adapter’s Ethernet port. The encrypt button located on the lower right side of each adapter allows you to secure your network against any neighbors that share electrical wiring.

The encrypt button allows you to protect your network from freeloading neighbors.

This kit includes two adapters, which are enough to bring a wired internet connection from your router to one room. If you want powerline connections in multiple rooms, you’ll have to buy an additional adapter for each. Individual adapters are available on Amazon for $60 apiece, or you can buy another kit containing two and pay less per adapter.

Not many people review powerline network adapters, and neither CNET nor SmallNetBuilder has reviewed the exact model we recommend. SmallNetBuilder reviewed the ZyXEL 600 Mbps kit without AC passthrough, and found that it was one of the fastest they’ve tested so far.

Unfortunately, the Amazon reviews for several different ZyXEL kits are lumped together, so they don’t give a very good picture of how customers feel about each individual product. That said, the kits have a 4.0 star average rating over 534 user reviews.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

The ZyXEL isn’t without flaws. It’s the bulkiest of the four kits we tested—in order to accommodate AC passthrough—and each adapter measures 4.8 x 2.64 x 1.57 inches. The ZyXEL adapters were also the only ones we tested that were large enough to partially block the third prong in the outlet above. You can still plug in two-prong gadgets like lamps or phone chargers, but three-prong appliances, power strips, and some laptop chargers will have to be plugged into the outlet on the adapter.

The ZyXEL adapters partially block the outlet above, making it impossible to plug in three-prong gadgets.

The ZyXEL kit comes with short, 46-inch Ethernet cables. Even with the adapter plugged into an outlet directly beneath the desk, the cord wasn’t long enough to reach a laptop on the desk. Unless your outlets are very close to your devices, you’ll need to buy longer cables. Longer Ethernet cords are cheap and easy to find, but we still wish the ZyXEL’s were longer. It’s a minor inconvenience that could easily have been avoided.

That said, Wi-Fi will provide better speeds than powerline at short range, so powerline adapters should only be for locations where Wi-Fi and Ethernet aren’t options.

Finally, despite being the fastest powerline kit we tested, the ZyXEL adapters were still significantly slower than Wi-Fi at points one and two (we didn’t test Wi-Fi performance in the other two homes). The ZyXEL was a little faster than 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi at point one—32.1 Mbps versus 25.1 Mbps—but was much slower than 5 GHz Wi-Fi, which measured 51.3 Mbps. At location two, the ZyXEL saw speeds of 18.1 Mbps, much slower than both Wi-Fi bands. The 2.4 GHz band measured 28 Mbps, while 5 GHz Wi-Fi had speeds of 43.5 Mbps. Keep in mind that these results were taken at around 50 feet from the router in a 35-year-old house, so the older wiring has a negative impact on the powerline signal and the Wi-Fi speeds were bolstered by a strong router with external antennas, the Asus RT-AC66U. That said, Wi-Fi will provide better speeds than powerline at short range, so powerline adapters should only be for locations where Wi-Fi and Ethernet aren’t options.

The runner-up: two chainz prongs!

The TP-Link AV600 Powerline Adapter Kit is our runner-up pick—it was a fierce competitor for the fastest in our tests (second only to our top pick). But it does have other benefits: it’s not as bulky as our pick and works well if your home only has two-prong outlets.

If our main pick is sold out, or if you don’t have three-prong outlets in your home, we recommend the TP-Link AV600 Powerline Adapter Kit. Our top pick doesn’t work in a three-to-two prong converter.

This is important, though: if your home doesn’t have three-prong outlets–which have been standard for nearly 40 years–your wiring might be old enough that powerline networking won’t work at all. Because there are so many variables that impact powerline performance, there’s no way of knowing how a kit will perform in your home until you buy one and plug it in. We recommend purchasing a kit and testing it out right away; if it doesn’t perform as expected, return it.

The TP-Link kit was the second fastest in most of our tests and even outstripped the ZyXEL adapters in one of our three test homes.

So why do we like the TP-Link? Like our top pick, the TP-Link adapters support the AV2 HomePlug standard and have gigabit Ethernet ports. The TP-Link kit was the second fastest in most of our tests and even outstripped the ZyXEL adapters in one of our three test homes. As we’ll explain below, many factors can impact powerline network speeds in a home.

If you only have two-prong outlets, we recommend the TP-Link AV600 kit instead.

Like the ZyXEL kit, the TP-Link kit has a two-year limited warranty, LED indicators, a power-saving mode, and signal encryption. TP-Link claims the adapters use less than three watts of electricity, but doesn’t specify how much electricity is used in power-saving mode. The TP-Link adapters are much smaller than ZyXEL’s. They’re just 2.5 x 1.9 x 1.6 inches each and don’t block any part of the plug above. They’re also cheaper than the ZyXELs, as long as you buy multiples of two. A kit containing two adapters costs $80 at the time of writing, but individual adapters don’t seem to be available on Amazon. For comparison, ZyXEL’s kits are currently $88, and individual adapters cost $60 each on Amazon.

The TP-Link kit has LED indicators and a sync button, but no AC passthrough.

Unlike the ZyXELs, the TP-Link adapters don’t have AC passthrough. We also noticed that the TP-Link adapters emitted a high-pitched coil noise that nearly drove both myself and my editor crazy. I heard the coil noise from both adapters, while my editor only heard it from one. The sound wasn’t present in all testing locations, so it’s unclear whether there’s a defective part in our testing kit, it’s a problem specific to certain wiring setups, or it’s actually a universal issue.

SmallNetBuilder tested the TP-Link AV600 Kit and found that it had the fastest uplink, downlink, and simultaneous throughput of the kits they’ve tested, though they haven’t tested the ZYXEL kit that earned our top pick. Their review concluded “if you want both a Gigabit port and enough throughput to make good use of it, TP-LINK’s TL-PA6010KIT seems a clear choice to me.”

What factors slow down powerline signals?

CNET’s networking expert Dong Ngo has found that powerline adapters on the latest AV2 standard with Gigabit Ethernet are much faster than the previous generation. AV2 powerline adapters are often quoted at 600 Mbps, about 20 percent faster than the previous theoretical standard of 500 Mbps. In real life, no powerline adapter will come close to those theoretical speeds.

In our last powerline networking guide, Wirecutter contributor Wes Fenlon spoke to Netgear’s powerline product manager Fred Guiot about some of the conditions that can negatively impact powerline signals. Here’s what he learned:

“The longer the distance, the smaller the bitrate. Nothing to do about that; this is natural behavior.”

“Powerline signal jumps from circuit to circuit, but every time you go across a circuit breaker you have roughly 20 dB attenuation. So, when you have 2 adapters on 2 different circuits, you have to go through 2 circuit breakers which means you add 40 dB to the signal.” (Note: Signal attenuation, or loss of strength, is measured in decibels. Lower is better).

“You can have noise coming from bad quality power supplies (phone or laptop) and incandescent bulb light.”

“3-phase wiring is typically not good for powerline. As when you have to change from 1 phase to another one, you lose power, then performance.” (Note: Three-phase wiring isn’t too common in residences, but it’s used in some homes).

“Old and deteriorated power lines will give less performance.”

Wes also pointed out the following: “SmallNetBuilder’s testing procedure also notes that ‘The test outlets were chosen so that none are behind AFCI breakers. The brand of AFCI breaker in the test home has been shown to severely reduce powerline throughput.’” Reader Chixofnix points out below that these are usually only found in newer construction, though GFCI outlets–which have been required in places like kitchens and bathrooms for a while–can also hurt your signal according to AnandTech. Our testing confirmed this; we attempted to test the powerline kits in a bathroom with a GFCI outlet and only the Zyxel managed a very weak connection. The others couldn’t connect at all.

What about MoCA?

If your home is wired for cable, you could use MoCA, which is similar in concept to powerline networking except it passes the data through coax cables instead of electrical wiring. However, MoCA’s theoretical top speed is slower than powerline’s, not everyone has cable in every room, there are far fewer available options, and it doesn’t work with satellite TV. Since nearly everyone has electrical wiring in their home, we chose to focus on powerline networking instead.

What about powerline Wi-Fi extenders?

Powerline Wi-Fi extenders are just like the other powerline network adapters discussed in this piece, except the secondary adapter creates a new Wi-Fi hotspot rather than—or, in some cases, in addition to—connecting to one device via ethernet cord. However, after a couple hours researching powerline Wi-Fi extenders, we found that there aren’t any good ones yet. Few support the latest, fastest Wi-Fi standard, 802.11 ac, and none have Gigabit Ethernet ports.

CNET’s Dong Ngo recommends pairing traditional powerline adapters with a separate Wi-Fi access point as an alternative to powerline Wi-Fi extenders. We agree that this is the best solution until powerline Wi-Fi extenders improve.

Care and maintenance

Using the “sync,” “encrypt,” or “pair” buttons on your powerline kit will secure your network.

To secure your powerline network from freeloading neighbors who share the same electrical wiring, be sure to sync all of your adapters.

To secure your powerline network from freeloading neighbors who share the same electrical wiring, be sure to sync all of your adapters. The syncing process may vary a little from kit to kit—be sure to check the included directions—but it’s always similar. First, plug all of your adapters into outlets close to one another, then press the “sync” button found on the side or bottom of the first adapter. The indicator LEDs should flash. Then press the sync buttons on other adapters. The LEDs should stop flashing, which means your adapters are secured and you can move them to whatever rooms need internet.

What to look forward to

At CES 2015, manufacturers began announcing 1200Mbps adapters, which are AV2 adapters with MIMO (multiple input multiple output) support. Compared to the adapters we tested, which are often marketed as AV2 500 or AV600, these new adapters will have about twice the theoretical throughput because they can handle more than one stream of data at a time. We won’t know how much faster they are in everyday use until they’re released, but they are likely to be both faster and more expensive than our current recommendations.

ZyXEL has a 1200Mbps kit up on its website, but it’s not available from any retailers and it’s not clear when it will be. It’s the fastest powerline kit so far according to SmallNetBuilder, so we’ll keep an eye out for availability and update this piece with more information when we have it.

TrendNet announced its next generation of 1200 AV2 powerline kits, the TPL-420E2K and TPL-421E2K with AC passthrough. At CES 2015, TrendNet told us that the kits will be available in February and March for $100 and $110, respectively.

At CES 2015, Netgear also announced two 1200Mbps powerline kits, the PL1200 and the PLP1200 with a passthrough AC socket. Both will go on sale sometime early this year.

At the same time, D-Link launched a powerline kit with estimated speeds of up to 2000Mbps, using the same MIMO technology as the 1200Mbps kits launched by other manufacturers. We’re skeptical about those speed claims, especially since that’s twice as fast as the best Ethernet connections on your network. We will have to wait for reviews of the DHP-701AV kit when it comes out sometime early in 2015.

TP-Link also announced a 1200Mbps powerline kit with a passthrough socket at CES 2015, but the TL-PA8010P KIT isn’t expected to go on sale until much later this year.

We’ll update this piece when we’ve tested the new generation of adapters ourselves.

The D-Link AV2 600 Gigabit Starter Kit was often faster than the TrendNet kit at close range, but was much, much slower over long distances. It doesn’t have AC passthrough like our ZyXEL recommendation, and it’s more expensive than our two-prong recommendation, the TP-Link AV600 Kit. The D-Link kit only has a one-year limited warranty and comes with very short, 40-inch Ethernet cables.

Wrapping it up

The ZyXEL 600 Mbps Powerline AV2 Gigabit Adapter Kit is the best power line kit for most because it’s often the fastest and has AC passthrough. Our pick also has LED indicators, 128-bit security, a power saving mode, and a two-year limited warranty. If you only have two-prong outlets, we recommend the TP-LINK AV600 Nano Powerline Adapter Kit. It’s a bit slower than our top pick and doesn’t have AC passthrough, but the TP-Link kit is faster than other options and also has LED indicators, 128-bit encryption, and a power-saving mode.

I live in a house converted to apartment building. Each unit has its own electrical bill and meter. Would this allow me to share a connection with someone else in the building, or are we separated in a way it would not?

Ron Nelson

you shouldn’t be able to, as I understand it. But I haven’t tested that yet myself…

A major advantage to the models with AC passthrough is when the outlet is filtered. I used Netgear Powerline for bridging in my condo, and running my office and entertainment center power strips made all the difference.

My first setup did not have the filtered outlets, and my xfer rates dropped down to below 10 Mbps. With filtering of the gear at both ends (using Netgear XAV2501’s) I see 180+ Mbps rates. This isn’t as great as the reviewed unit, but is faster then my ISP connection and is enough for streaming.

Internalaudit

Ron, what exactly did you mean by filtered outlets? Did you mean to say one with a surge protector connected? How are these AC passthrough models better than those without them? Thank you.

Ron Nelson

The powerline modules that have AC Passthrough will (usually) provide noise filtering on the outlet. I hang a power strip off of that outlet for my electronics, and found that reduced the noise in the power line circuit greatly. A “noisy” circuit has a much reduced data capacity/rate.

For me, this filtering was the difference between a working powerline network and one that was almost completely useless.

Aaron

One unmentioned advantage of Powerline vs Wireless is that the former tends to have significantly lower and more stable latency in my experience (matters for things like gaming).

John Smith

A huge unmentioned factor in throughput between Powerline adaptors that are on 2 different circuits in residential installations (which generally have 240 volt incoming power distributed on two 120 volt legs) is whether the 2 circuits are on the same leg of the panel. Throughput is greatly reduced if the 2 adaptors are on different legs.

The advantage of Powerline adaptors is if you attach each one to a gigabit network switch then connect the computers in the same room to the switch. When you do this, the computers can send files to each other at a much much faster gigabit ethernet rate than via wireless.

Even when the cable modem is in another room, I still can get 30 mbps download speeds on it when connected via these new powerline adapters.

Chixofnix

This is a fascinating new topic for me, but I think I can clarify something: While AFCI (arc fault circuit interrupter) breakers are referenced consistently as something to watch out for, I believe it’s incorrect to assert they’re generally required (or even to be expected) in bathrooms. Recent editions of the NEC (from 2008) prescribe AFCI protection for outlets in bedrooms, dining rooms, living rooms, halls… essentially everywhere *but* kitchens, bathrooms, unfinished basements, garages, and outdoors (where GFCI protection is more commonly seen). It’s probably also correct to assert most will not encounter AFCI breakers or receptacles outside of relatively new residential construction (within the last few years), as code authorities around the county can take years to adopt and enforce newer code standards. This is all from the eyes of someone in the USA construction industry, by the way – might not apply around the world.

Hi there smileman! We didn’t test the TP-Link WPA4220 or the TRENDnet TPL-410AP because neither have Gigabit Ethernet ports, which bottlenecks the throughput of the whole setup at the connection between the router and the first adapter. From there speeds degrade even further based on all the factors discussed above.

We spoke to CNET’s Dong Ngo about the entire field of powerline Wi-Fi extenders, and we agree with his recommendation of pairing traditional powerline adapters with a separate Wi-Fi access point instead.

John Duncan

What if you combine an AV600 adapter with Gb port at the router with an AV500 wifi extender?

Does adding an AV200/500 product to an AV600/1000 network automatically slow everything down to the lowest common speed (like adding a 802.11b device to a g/n wifi network)? And have you had a chance to look at performance when mixing different brands of adapters (e.g. a network using TP-Link and Zyxel AV600)?

zx6guy

This is a great article and in some ways better than Dong’s. Keep up the good work.

Max Velasco Knott

I laughed out loud at “two chainz”! Thank you for that.

allisonfranz1024

I live in a house converted to apartment building

Edward Becerra

A simple solution to ZyXel’s bulk can be found at CyberGuys and a number of other places. The PowerStrip Liberator mini-extension cords don’t filter the line, and give you that needed space. It seems to me that the Flat Liberator ( http://www.cyberguys.com/product-details/?productid=37278&rH=1214 ) would be ideal for attaching a ZyXel to the socket. Though I’d be concerned about letting the adapter just dangle.

Perhaps one of those outlet cover plates with a molded-in shelf to support a cell phone, like this?

You’re welcome. I live in an older house, a cottage that was built by my grandparents and the wiring dates from the 60’s. So I have to be a little inventive at times when connecting something, or trying to build an ad-hoc network.

Your article on powerline networking was fascinating, and your reasons for choosing the ZyXel as the best pick seem quite valid. I can only hope that the suggestion of the Flat Liberator cable helps with the ZyXel’s outlet blocking problem.

Dave

Thank you! That is very helpful. Follow up question – how would one of those compare with a MOCA adapter – one that does the same thing but over the house’s coax cable? I’m thinking that would circumvent the issue of being on a different circuit…

Edward Becerra

I’m not certain, I’ve never dealt with trying to network over coax cable. Which is curious, as Grand-dad *did* wire the cottage with coax in advance. He looked to the future – just not the *right* future. Heh.

Sorry I can’t help you with this one, and I hope one of the other readers can.

Nonky Bonk

D-Link AV2 600 Gigabit Starter Kit absolutely smokes in my townhouse. Using Lanbench I have speed of 600 Mbps in one bedroom and believe it or not 1,513,153 kbps send and 1,255,733 kps receive in my office (3rd bedroom). Both are on the 2nd floor as far away from the router which is in the livingroom, as possible. Far faster than wireless Nx2. What a great deal! Got 2 kits for $160 leaving me 4 adapters. 1 year warranty? No worries. If network devices last a year they usually last 2.

John Bernstein

Are there any power line adapters that provide PoE (power over ethernet)? The only ones I’ve ever seen at the adapters that shipped with Logitech’s Alert security cameras. Appreciate any pointers!

Nate

I would also be interested in these. I guess most homeowners don’t need PoE, but it would be great for plugging in VoIP phones, as well as security cameras.

Rodalpho

Newegg has two Zyxel models, one AV2 listed as “up to 1000 Mbps” and one “up to 1200 Mbps” labeled AV2 MIMO. The latter one looks to be very new. Maybe take a look at these?

The one isn’t getting very good reviews, and the other only has 5 so far. Will send along for consideration when we refresh this guide.

Dave

If the speed is limited by older wiring will it make any difference on buying an AV2 600 or 1000 vs an older AV? I can get a linksys AV 200 for $50. That would save me a bit of money if I’m not going to see any significantly faster speeds from the more expensive 1000 kit. My home is probably about 30-35 years old.

Also, my basement is on a different circuit from the router which is upstairs in a room where the coax cable comes into the house. Will that be a problem? Will it slow my speeds or will it make it not work at all?

http://thewirecutter.com Kimber Streams

Hi Dave!

The faster kits should make a difference because you’re starting with more speed in the system to be potentially degraded by your older wiring, if that makes sense. The slower kits would bottleneck the system from the beginning, and then the signal could degrade further from there.

The different circuit may be a problem, but there’s no way to know how problematic it will be without buying a kit and testing it out in your specific setup. If it doesn’t work as well as you’d like, you can always return it. Unfortunately there’s so much variation in wiring setups that there’s no way to predict how effective powerline networking kits will be.

All that said, right now we don’t recommend going for the 1000 kit. It’s too expensive, and SmallNetBuilder found that it wasn’t significantly faster than the TP-Link kit we chose as Runner Up.

Hope that helps!

JP

Good information, great write-up.. And as mentioned a good solution for adding another AP to extend your home WiFi network coverage. But having a 500Mbs or 1Gbs network will not make your connection to the Internet any faster since the average service from an ISP is 10.5Mbs. So unless you are running your own service network which few are doing that fact that these adapters only support 100Mb connections is not an issue..

Eric Heyer

So the article states that if you have a two prong outlet you should use the TP AV600, and then at the end of the article it says TP AV500…
I’m guessing it doesn’t really matter but which one is it?

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